Feel No Shame For What You Are

There is no objective qualification for what passes as the "best" in art -- even in capital "A" art that hangs on walls in museums -- despite what may near universally be accepted as some of the greatest. After all, there's probably someone out there who thinks the Mona Lisa is a piece of trash. In similar terms, for the life of me I can't figure out why people like Michael Bay are continually allowed to make films or why everyone isn't humming a Jeff Buckley tune, yet Bad Boys II is likely to do some large sales this holiday season on DVD and it's highly unlikely that Sketches for my Sweetheart the Drunk is going to somehow topple whatever happens to be #1 on this week's Billboard chart -- especially considering that it was released more than a few years ago.

I will agree that it can be argued that some piece of music, or painting, or architecture, can be more proficiently produced than others -- that there is a "right" way and a "wrong" way, as it were, to do say an Impressionistic painting. Even there, though, the likes and dislikes of a particular technique is still purely subjective. Something could be line perfect Art Deco, but that doesn't matter a whit if the person viewing it doesn't happen to like the style. Just try convincing a teenybopper that Otis Redding was a genius.

Recently, amongst the comics blogsphere, a "discussion" erupted over the "best" superhero cover of the past decade, starting with Alan David Doane, bouncing to Laura Gjovaag, back to Doane, then to the Johnny Bacardi show, up to Doane, Gjovaag again, then with John Jakala chiming in.

Basically, their propositions for "best" cover are as follows:

• Alan David Doane initially proposed that Seth's cover to the "Marvel Benefit Issue" of Coober Skeeber was the "best". 
• Laura Gjovaag then countered, initially assuming that the Coober Skeeber cover was a joke, and threw out the idea that her two covers of Aquaman with fish were better.
• Johnny Bacardi didn't offer up anything for what he thought was "best", but did say that Doane's offering wasn't it.
• Finally, John Jakala countered Doane's proposition as well. Then, tongue firmly planted in cheek, offered that the Liefeld pin-up was better than everything.

Now, I know that I have a penchant for doing up listy type things that proclaim the "best of..." each year, and I may call people idiots if they pass up the latest issue of Forlorn Funnies -- because, honestly, you'd have to be mentally deficient not to be reading it -- but I usually qualify it with the fact that this is my opinion, and I don't stand as the arbiter of good taste. If you want to go ahead and continue reading a piece of shit that Geoff Johns happens to put out every month and proclaim it as "great", that's your prerogative. Just as I'm going to, when you do, tell you that you're an idiot for doing so. Same as you'll tell me I'm an idiot for not liking it.

Besides, nothing can beat Dave McKean (even if technically, Sandman isn't a superhero title), Chris Bachalo, Bill Sienkiewicz, or John Totleben. Okay, yes, I'm being facetious, but they sure look good, don't they?